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58-543: Soninke may refer to: Soninke people Soninke language Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Soninke . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soninke&oldid=941932606 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

116-534: A Wolof word, was used for the Soninke at least as far back as the 16th century and is used by peoples as far apart as The Gambia and Hausaland . The Jahankas , a subgroup, refer to themselves as of Serakhulle extraction. Historically, the term "Soninke" carries negative connotations in the Futa Djallon and Senegambia , hence the more common use of the term "Serakhulle." Archaeological evidence suggests that

174-451: A circle around the boys. During this time the boys are surrounded with beautiful scarves called disa sing. The author Mamadou Soumare wrote “Above its traditional surgery, the ritual of circumcision makes in evidence, the physical endurance, the pain, the courage, in one word the personality of the child.” The Soninke people have long carried out female genital mutilation (FGM), also called female circumcision. The prevalence rate of FGM

232-443: A city wall. In the king's town, and not far from his courts of justice, is a mosque where Muslims who arrive in his court pray. Around the king's town are domed buildings and groves and thickets where the sorcerers of these people, men in charge of the religious cult, live. The descriptions provided by the early Arab authors lack sufficient detail to pinpoint the exact location of the town. The much later 17th-century African chronicle,

290-521: A footnote in which they comment that local tradition also suggested that the first capital of Kayamagna was at Koumbi and that the town was in the Ouagadou region in Mali, northeast of Goumbou on the road leading from Goumbou to Néma and Oualata . Ann Kritzinger, relying on a re-reading of ibn Battuta and other Arabic writers, has argued that the archaeological site of Koumbi Saleh in fact represents

348-436: A noble could take a wife from the slave strata. The Soninke practise circumcision and call it birou . Every afternoon, the boys who were circumcised the previous year organize tam-tams for the new boys in order to prepare them psychologically. Throughout the circumcision ceremony, the boys to be circumcised sit around the “tambour” called “daïné”. The other teenagers of the village, young girls, women, men, and slaves form

406-675: A part of the French colonial empire. Most of the Soninke people are found in the valley of the upper Senegal river and along the Mali–Senegal–Mauritania border between Nara and Nioro du Sahel . Migrations under French colonial rule led many Soninke to build communities in Dakar , other cities in Africa and in France. Soninke community were the early settlers in France, their community

464-462: A plaster of red mud, featured decorative slabs of slate with intricate painted designs, including epigraphic, geometric and floral motifs. Throughout its existence, the Kumbi Saleh mosque has undergone several phases of expansion and renovation. Later extensions raised the height of the prayer hall to about 3 metres, supported by columns with stone drums on top. Architectural excavations revealed

522-576: A series of mihrabs, demonstrating the mosque's continuous adaptation to the changing needs of its community. The urban vitality of Kumbi Saleh is exemplified by the successive additions and alterations to the mosque, demonstrating the historical importance of the area as a cultural and religious centre. Similarly, the mosque of Awdaghust shares many architectural characteristics with the mosque of Kumbi Saleh, with stone construction and decorative elements, albeit with unique variations reflecting its own historical context and development. The archaeological site

580-422: A stew, is a mixture of millet and beans. The Soninke traditionally engage in both trade and agriculture. During the rainy season, men and women both cultivate. However, women usually stay at home to cook and take care of their children. They also do other work, such as dyeing cotton material. Many early West African immigrants in France came from this ethnic group. The Soninke are an influential ethnic group in

638-571: A template for servile relationships and social stratification of human beings. The linguistic evidence suggests that stratification structure relating to caste system and slavery likely were shared between the Manding and Soninke people, and possibly some others such as the Dogon people of West Africa. However, the linguistic differences between the caste and slave systems of the Soninke and Manding on one hand and northern ethnic groups of Africa such as

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696-525: A twelfth-century writer, described Ghana's royal city as lying on a riverbank, a river he called the "Nile." This followed the geographic custom of his day, which confused the Niger and Senegal Rivers and believed that they formed a single river often called the "Nile of the Blacks". Whether al-Idrisi was referring to a new and later capital located elsewhere, or whether there was confusion or corruption in his text

754-473: Is accompanied with a wedding event called karikompe . The newly married couple has advisors. The man's advisor is called the khoussoumanta-yougo and the woman's is called khoussoumanta-yakhare . After one week of celebration, the women meet to show the gifts that the couple received from their parents mostly from the woman's mother. Marriage across social strata and caste lines has been taboo, states Saskia Brand. But, in polygynous noble families,

812-452: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Language and nationality disambiguation pages Soninke people Predominantly Muslims, the Soninke were one of the early ethnic groups from West Africa to convert to Islam in about the 10th century. The contemporary population of Soninke people is estimated to be over 2 million. The cultural practices of Soninke people are similar to

870-450: Is found in Paris and in southern French cities, and their language is the primary dialect spoken among many Muslim communities of France. There are also many Soninke living in cities throughout Central Africa , a population that includes new migrants as well as descendants of migration dating back to the 1800s, such as the laptots who represented French mercantile and colonial interests in

928-480: Is found in the works of the 8th century Arab geographer Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī and a more complete record is found in works of another 11th century Arab geographer Al-Bakri . The rulers and Soninke people of the Ghana Empire converted to Islam in the 11th century, and they have been Muslim ever since. Some Islamic sources suggest that the conversion was triggered after the 1076 Almoravid conquest of

986-405: Is higher among the Soninke than among neighbouring ethnic groups such as Wolof people and others. The practice is culturally done as a ritual of social acceptance, and sometimes assumed to be required for religious reasons. In Mauritania and Senegal, FGM of a child is illegal in contemporary law but continues because it is culturally sanctioned for young girls as young as one year old. According to

1044-399: Is likely that some of the buildings had more than one storey. The rooms were quite narrow, probably due to the absence of large trees to provide long rafters to support the ceilings. The houses were densely packed together and separated by narrow streets. In contrast a wide avenue, up to 12 m in width, ran in an east–west direction across the town. At the western end lay an open site that

1102-504: Is low grass with thorny scrub and the occasional acacia tree. In the wet season (July–September) the limited rain fills a number of depressions, but for the rest of the year there is no rain and no surface water. Beginning with Bonnel de Mézières in 1914, the site has been excavated by successive teams of French archaeologists. Paul Thomassey and Raymond Mauny excavated between 1949 and 1951, Serge Robert during 1975-76 and Sophie Berthier during 1980–81. The urban planning of Koumbi Saleh

1160-459: Is shaped by various forms of social stratification. The Soninke strata have included a free category called Horro or Horon , a caste system category called Namaxala or Nyaxamalo , and slaves called Komo . In the Jaara subgroup of the Soninke people, the nobility called Tunkanlenmu was another strata. Soninke society became highly stratified after the 13th century. The slaves were

1218-538: Is unclear. However, he does state that the royal palace he knew was built in 510 AH (1116–1117 AD), suggesting that it was a newer town, rebuilt closer to the river than Koumbi Saleh. This has led to the suggestion that at some point the capital may have been moved south to the Niger River. In the French translation of the Tarikh al-fattash published in 1913, Octave Houdas and Maurice Delafosse include

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1276-471: Is unknown but there is evidence that North Africa had begun importing gold from West Africa before the Arab conquest in the middle of the seventh century. In the medieval Arabic sources the word "Ghana" can refer to a royal title, the name of a capital city or a kingdom. The earliest reference to Ghana as a town is by al-Khuwarizmi who died in around 846 AD. Two centuries later a detailed description of

1334-453: The jeli below the tage or numu (smiths, pottery workers). The castes and serf system can be linked to the Mandé 'Nyamakalaw' (literally 'caste'). archaeological evidence shows that Arabs and Berbers would later participate in an already established and integrated trade and transport network with West Africa (trading in gold, salt, and some slaves to a lesser extent), building upon

1392-663: The Tarikh al-fattash , states that the Malian Empire was preceded by the Kayamagna dynasty which had a capital at a town called Koumbi. The chronicle does not use the word Ghana. The other important 17th-century chronicle, the Tarikh al-Sudan mentions that the Malian Empire came after the dynasty of Qayamagha which had its capital at the city of Ghana. It is assumed that the "Kayamagna" or "Qayamagha" dynasty ruled

1450-555: The Berber town of Awdaghost , and that the capital of the Ghana Empire was Djenne . The extensive ruins at Koumbi Saleh were first reported by Albert Bonnel de Mézières in 1914. The site lies in the Sahel region of southern Mauritania , 30 km north of the Malian border, 57 km south-southeast of Timbédra and 98 km northwest of the town of Nara in Mali. The vegetation

1508-614: The Mandé peoples, and those of the Imraguen of Mauritania. They include traditional Islamic rites of marriage, circumcision, and have social stratification. The Soninke people are also referred to as Aswanik, Dafing, Dafi, Dyakanke, Gadyaga, Maraka, Maraxa, Marka, Marka Soninké, Sarakolleh, Saracole, Zarakole, Zagha, Sarakolé, Sarakollé, Sarakule, Sarawule, Saraxole, Seraculeh, Serahuli, Serakhulle, Silabe, Soniake, Soninkés, Sonninké, Toubakai, Wakore, Wangara. They refer to themselves by

1566-467: The (13 century BC to the 1st century BC) truly materializing within the (1st and 3rd) centuries CE but was destroyed by about the 12th century, after the Muslim invasions of this region started in the 10th century. In contemporary time, the total population of Soninke people is above 2 million. Soninke people are found throughout West Africa and in France, given their migration when Senegal and Mali were

1624-576: The 13th century. McIntosh concurs with Tamari, but states that the emergence of caste systems likely occurred much earlier in West African societies such as Soninke, Mande, Malinke, Wolof, Serer, and others. She places the development and spread of castes in these societies to about the 10th century, because the slave capture, slave trade and slave holding by elite families was an established institution in West Africa by then, and slavery created

1682-497: The 2009 Report on Human Rights Practices by the US State Department, FGM practice among Soninke has included the most dangerous Type III mutilations. Breakfast foods include fonde , porridge made of millet , sugar, milk, and salt, and sombi , porridge made of rice, millet or corn. For lunch demba tere and takhaya are very common, both containing rice and peanuts, frequent Soninke ingredients. Dere ,

1740-570: The Awdaghust, found in the Adrar and Hodh regions. Despite the limited historical documentation, these mosques are of great importance in understanding the architectural heritage of the region. In particular, in the eleventh century, Al-Bakri identified Kumbi Saleh as the capital of the Kingdom of Wagadu, also known as the Kingdom of Ghana. Situated in what was probably a Sahelian steppe environment,

1798-623: The Gambia, Senegal, and Mali. commune of Diawara, Sénégal] Archived 2006-12-08 at the Wayback Machine Koumbi Saleh Koumbi Saleh , or Kumbi Saleh , is the site of a ruined ancient and medieval city in south east Mauritania that may have been the capital of the Ghana Empire . It is also a commune with a population of 11,064 (census 2013). From the ninth century, Arab authors mention

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1856-581: The Ghana Empire and other Mande states from roots in preceding local ancestral Soninke cultures such as that of Dhar Tichitt, rather than from North Africa or the Middle East. The early written records about Soninke come from early Islamic historians. The Soninke, according to these records, were the founders of the ancient Ghana Empire (not to be confused with modern Ghana), also called the Wagadu Empire. The empire has its roots roughly between

1914-401: The Ghana Empire in connection with the trans-Saharan gold trade . Al-Bakri who wrote in eleventh century described the capital of Ghana as consisting of two towns 10 kilometres (6 mi) apart, one inhabited by Muslim merchants, and the other by the king of Ghana. The discovery in 1913 of a 17th-century African chronicle that gave the name of the capital as Koumbi led French archaeologists to

1972-554: The Ghana Empire. The Soninke people, like other Mande peoples, typically adhere to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam. The Soninke society and its culture has historically many cultural practices with its neighboring ethnic groups, particularly the Mande peoples. This includes the religion of Islam, occupations, foods, the rites of passage, family structure, weddings and social stratification. Soninke society, like other groups in Mande,

2030-616: The Mosque of Kumbi Saleh has undergone numerous transformations and extensions throughout its history. Original measurements suggest that the building spanned approximately 46 metres on the east-west axis and 23 metres on the north-south axis, making it one of the larger structures of its time. First observations by Raymond Mauny and Paul Thomassey in 1950 led to extensive excavations between 1979 and 1982 by Serge Robert, which provided important insights into its architectural development. The mosque, built primarily of dry stone and decorated with

2088-561: The Tuareg people and Moors on the other, suggests that these evolved separately. Marriage in Soninke society follows Islamic practices. Cousin marriages are common and preferred in Soninke culture, just as with the Fula people . Parents consent to marriage. A traditional proverb states, "Cousins are made for each other." The practice among Soninke merchants, states Saskia Brand, a professor of psychology and educational sciences, may be related to

2146-622: The West Africa region. The Soninke people were a coastal trade link between the Berber people of the Maghreb region and the other Empires in West Africa. In their early history, they helped exchange salt from the north and western coast for gold found inland. This trade brought Muslim traders to them, particularly Arab traders interested in gold, after Islam arrived in North Africa. The earliest passing mention of Soninke people's Ghana Empire

2204-733: The ancestor of the Soninke was Dinga , sometimes said to have come from the Middle East (though such a story is unlikely, as the "Middle Eastern" tag came about subsequent to the Mande converting to Islam), His sons included Dyabe Sisse, the founder of the Wagadu kingdom with its capital at Kumbi . Another Soninke tradition indicates that they migrated from Aswan , Egypt . However theories of foreign origin are almost entirely doubted/disregarded by scholars and are believed to result from later Eurasiatic cultural influences (Namely Arab and French). Archaeological evidence supports an evolution of

2262-525: The city was a hub for the exchange of gold, iron, salt, ivory, and other commodities. One of the most significant archaeological discoveries at Koumbi Saleh was the uncovering of large numbers of Islamic coins, ceramics, and glassware. This suggests that the city had extensive trading links with other Islamic regions such as North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. The coins were minted in locations as far away as Baghdad, providing evidence of

2320-405: The cultural belief that cousin marriages "helps to keep the money in the family". If both families agree, the couple is engaged ( i na tamma laga ) in a mosque . Each month after the engagement, the man pays the woman's family a bridewealth dower ( nakhafa ) for their food and other spending. The marriage, called futtu , is complete with a marriage contract that mentions the dower, and

2378-416: The empire of Ghana mentioned in the early Arabic sources. In recent years, the identification of Koumbi Saleh with the 'city of Ghana' described in the sources has been increasingly disputed by scholars. No inscription has been found to unambiguously link the ruins with the Muslim capital of Ghana described by al-Bakri. Moreover, the ruins of the king's town of Al-Ghaba have not been found. al-Idrisi ,

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2436-399: The environs are wells with sweet water, from which they drink and with which they grow vegetables. The king's town is six miles [10 km] distant from this one and bears the name of Al-Ghāba. Between these two towns are continuous habitations. The houses of the inhabitants are of stone and acacia wood. The king has a palace and a number of domed dwellings all surrounded with an enclosure like

2494-491: The far-reaching trade networks that once existed in West Africa. The French archaeologist Raymond Mauny estimated that the town would have accommodated between 15,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, acknowledging that this is an enormous population for a town in the Sahara with a very limited supply of water ("Chiffre énorme pour une ville saharienne"). The archaeological excavations at Koumbi Saleh have provided valuable insights into

2552-448: The largest stratum, one at the bottom among the Soninke like other West African ethnic groups, and constituted up to half of the population. The slaves among the Soninke people were hierarchically arranged into three strata. The village slaves were a privileged servile group who lived apart from the village and took orders from the village chief. The domestic slaves lived with a family and could not be sold. The lowest level among slaves were

2610-430: The occasional stone building. There were two large cemeteries outside the town suggesting that the site was occupied over an extended period. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal fragments from a house near the mosque have given dates that range between the late 5th and the 14th centuries, with the main period of urbanization extending from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The archaeology of Koumbi Saleh provides insight into

2668-437: The political, economic, and social structures of the Ghana Empire. The city's ruins and ancient artifacts have been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and ongoing research continues to shed light on the rich history of West Africa's ancient kingdoms. Believed to have been built between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, the Kumbi Saleh mosque is one of the earliest recognised structures among its counterparts, such as

2726-460: The pre-existing trade routes trading had extended into Ghana and the western Atlantic coast by the 11th century trading systems became increasingly sophisticated in 13th and 14th century Mali Empire and 16th century Songhai Empire . As the practice of slavery grew, so did the caste system. Tamari suggests that a corollary of the rising slavery system was the development and growth of the caste system among numerous ethnic groups of Africa by about

2784-551: The region. Trade networks led by the Wangara mercantile confederations, spread Soninke people and culture throughout most of Mali and Senegal, southern Mauritania, northern Burkina Faso, as well as parts of the Gambia , and Guinea-Bissau. The Maraka-Soninke merchant communities and plantations (centered just north of the city of Segou , Mali) were an economic mainspring under the Bambara Empire , and built trade routes in

2842-585: The regions where Soninke people are found were inhabited in ancient times. These stone settlements were built on the rocky promontories of Tichit - Walata and the Tagant cliffs of Southern Mauritania. Though there are no surviving records to suggest which ethnic group these people were, the settlers of this region by between 2500 BCE and 600 BCE were likely related to the Soninke and greater Mande people. A significant agro-pastoral society had developed in this prehistoric era. According to Soninke oral tradition ,

2900-406: The ruins at Koumbi Saleh. Excavations at the site have revealed the ruins of a large Muslim town with houses built of stone and a congregational mosque but no inscription to unambiguously identify the site as that of capital of Ghana. Ruins of the king's town described by al-Bakri have not been found. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the site was occupied between the late 5th and 14th centuries, with

2958-452: The town is provided by al-Bakri in his Book of Routes and Realms which he completed in around 1068. Al-Bakri never visited the region but obtained his information from earlier writers and from informants that he met in his native Spain: The city of Ghāna consists of two towns situated on a plain. One of these towns, which is inhabited by Muslims, is large and possesses twelve mosques, in one of which they assemble for Friday prayer. ... In

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3016-442: The trade slaves who could be bought and sold. With time, each of these strata became endogamous , states Daniel Littlefield, a professor of history. Above the slaves were the castes of Soninke, which too were hereditary, endogamous, and had an embedded hierarchical status. They included, for example, the garanke (leather workers) below the fune (bard), the fune below the gesere or jeli (griots, singers), and

3074-506: The urban period extending approximately from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The earliest author to mention Ghana is the Persian astronomer Ibrahim al-Fazari who, writing at the end of the eighth century, refers to "the territory of Ghana, the land of gold". The Ghana Empire lay in the Sahel region to the north of the West African gold fields and was able to profit from controlling the trans-Saharan gold trade. The early history of Ghana

3132-517: The urbanization process of one of the earliest West African states. According to Es'andah (1976), the city was either founded or greatly expanded upon in the 8th century AD with recent estimates in the last 2 decades of a possible foundation period as far back as the 2nd century to 1st century BCE and as of the 8th century AD served as the primary epicenter of a vast trade network that spanned the Sahara Desert. Archaeological evidence suggests that

3190-416: The use of mosques and the orientation of streets towards Mecca. The main section of the town lay on a small hill that nowadays rises to about 15 m above the surrounding plain. The hill would have originally been lower as part of the present height is a result of the accumulated ruins. The houses were constructed from local stone ( schist ) using banco rather than mortar. From the quantity of debris it

3248-795: The word "Soninké", which is actually the singular of the word "Soninko", but are also called "Sarakholés" by the Wolofs, "Marakas" by the Bambaras, "Wangara" by the Mandinka, "Wangarawa" by the Hausa, "Wakoré" by the Songhais, or even "Toubakai". “Marka” is the name by which they are known in Mali in the region of Kayes , Koulikoro , Sikasso , Ségou , Mopti and in Burkina Faso in that of Dafina. The term "Serakhulle," although often claimed to be

3306-455: Was complex and well-organized. Connah (2008) notes that the city was divided into two main areas: the royal palace and the commercial district. The palace was located on a raised platform and was surrounded by a moat. The commercial district consisted of a large central market and numerous smaller markets that specialized in specific goods. Insoll (1997) suggests that the layout of the city was influenced by Islamic urban planning principles, such as

3364-442: Was probably used as a marketplace. The main mosque was centrally placed on the avenue. It measured approximately 46 m east to west and 23 m north to south. The western end was probably open to the sky. The mihrab faced due east. The upper section of the town covered an area of 700 m by 700 m. To the southwest lay a lower area (500 m by 700 m) that would have been occupied by less permanent structures and

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